Resorts World Bimini’s SuperFast ferry, launched in mid-2013 to connect Miami and Bimini, ended on January 17. RWB President Ed Farrell said in advance of the grand opening of a 300-room luxury hotel in the spring, the company will launch the comprehensive transportation improvement initiative, “Break for Bimini,” to offer guests with faster, more direct access to the island. “Our guests want to spend more of their vacation enjoying our beautiful resort and less time spent in transit. Guests will be able to go from their hectic lives to the bliss of Bimini quicker than ever,” Farrell said.
The SuperFerry trip took about three hours, compared to the 20-minute seaplane flights to be offered by Cape Air five times daily from Fort Lauderdale. Silver Airways also will add flights. Including Resorts World’s private aircraft, the new flights will allow up to 500 people daily to make the 30-minute flight to the island, Resorts World said.
Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe said, “Thanks to the Resorts World Bimini team, the island of Bimini once again has daily, commercial air service to the benefit of both the resort’s guests and Biminites. The new air options, coupled with the enhanced ferry service from Miami, will further cement Resorts World Bimini as one of the Caribbean’s most modern, luxurious resorts. On behalf of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, I thank Genting for their confidence in and commitment to investing in our industry.”
The number of visitors to Bimini doubled to 117,315 in 2014, the first full year Genting’s casino and ferry were in operation. The 750-acre Resorts World Bimini property offers a casino, condos, villas, a 300-room hotel and 280 slips.
Not everyone is delighted with the ferry news. Attorney Fred Smith noted environmental groups were angered by the dredging of the Bimini ferry terminal. “We need regulated development, proportional development. As I said in the Bimini judicial review, once it is no longer economically feasible for them, they are just going to pull out and leave us holding the dregs of the dredging,” Smith said.
